Trojans win twice in walk-off fashion

With all the hype USC baseball has been creating for itself this season, last weekend’s Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic was the team’s best chance yet to prove itself as one of the best in the country.

Pitted against the No. 6 Texas Christian University Horned Frogs on Friday and the No. 1 Vanderbilt University Commodores on Saturday, the Trojans lived up to expectations by defeating both squauds in dramatic fashion and forcing themselves back into the national college baseball spotlight.

On Friday, junior starting pitcher Brent Wheatley turned in 6.1 solid innings against TCU, keeping USC within striking distance until they broke open a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth.

The Trojans strung together three singles, a sacrifice bunt and a towering home run off the bat of junior right fielder AJ Ramirez to give USC a 6-2 lead. Junior relief pitcher Kyle Davis could not hold onto the lead, however, as the Horned Frogs took advantage of errors by the Trojan defense and rallied to tie the game at 6 apiece.

The bullpens held steady through three extra innings, but it was the Trojans who finally broke through in the bottom of the 12th.

Junior center fielder Timmy Robinson hit a one-out single and stole second base to set the table for freshman infielder Angelo Armenta. Armenta singled up the middle for his first collegiate hit to put runners on the corners with one out and junior third baseman Blake Lacey coming to the plate.

The Trojans caught the Horned Frogs off guard with a suicide squeeze bunt and even a fantastic sliding effort from TCU pitcher Trey Teakell could not keep Robinson from scoring the winning run, as he barreled over catcher Evan Skoug in a violent collision.

The Trojans streamed onto the field in celebration of their latest win against a nationally ranked opponent. Head coach Dan Hubbs thinks the                  late-inning heroics will help boost team morale going forward.

“I think that any time you can win close games against really good teams it says a lot about your team,” Hubbs said. “Being able to come up against their bullpen and their best guys, I think that has to give the kids a lot of confidence.”

Saturday’s matchup against Vanderbilt proved to be just as exciting as Friday’s late-inning thriller, as the two teams fought back and forth all day.

Junior starter Kyle Twomey was solid through five innings and kept the Trojans in the game by giving up only four runs. The left-hander scattered 12 hits over his five innings of work, but he successfully avoided any big innings for the Commodores, forcing them to scratch together rallies to score any runs.

After retiring the first two batters of the game, Twomey surrendered a single to the Commodore’s three-hole hitter, Dansby Swanson. The Vanderbilt shortstop proceeded to steal both second and third base before first baseman Zander Wiel drove him in on an RBI single to give the Commodores an early 1-0 lead.

The Trojans would eventually jump out to their first lead of the day in the bottom of the third when Ramirez hit a lead off double. He advanced to third when sophomore shortstop Reggie Southall reached on a throwing error by Vanderbilt starter John Kilichowski on a sacrifice bunt attempt.

USC then took a 3-1 lead on an RBI sacrifice fly from Stahel and an RBI sacrifice squeeze bunt from senior catcher Garrett Stubbs.

Vanderbilt struck again in the top of the fifth, piecing together a long two-out rally. Four-straight Commodore hits brought the score back to a deadlock at 4-4.

That marked the end of Twomey’s day, but Hubbs was impressed with his performance.

“I thought [Twomey] battled,” Hubbs said. “I didn’t think he had his best stuff and he was leaving his fastball up and flat … but he made some pitches when he had to and that kept us in the game.”

The Trojans struck back immediately on an RBI single from Stubbs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Commodores came back again to tie the game at 5-5 with an RBI single from sophomore Bryan Reynolds in the top of the eighth inning.

USC won in dramatic fashion, walking off on a pinch-hit home run from Adalberto Carrillo to win the game 6-5. The Trojans rushed out of the dugout for the second-straight day as they celebrated back-to-back walk-off wins against top-10 ranked opponents.

Carrillo’s first career home run could not have come at a better moment. The stage was set in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth, full count, two outs and with one swing of the bat, he propelled the Trojans past the Commodores and back into the national spotlight.

“It was a big spot for me and I was kind of nervous,” Carrillo said. “I ended up putting a swing on it and the ball went over the fence. I couldn’t believe it. I was running around the bases as if it was just a dream.”